PDP, APC in show of strength as Dogara constitutes 97 House committees

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) caucuses in the House of Representatives tested their strength on Thursday when Speaker Yakubu Dogara announced the constitution of 97 standing committees of the House with the majority APC producing 48 chairmen of committees and the minority PDP having 45 committee chairmen.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara (middle), attending to multiple calls at the same time

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) both have one committee chairmanship position respectively, while the APC has 55 deputy chairmen positions, PDP has 39 deputy chairmen with APGA having two deputy chairmanship positions.

Our correspondent reports that the intense lobbying and horse trading which had been going on for weeks amongst lawmakers within the APC and PDP caucuses in the House had delayed the formal announcement and constitution of the standing committees by the speaker.

Announcing the constitution of the committees yesterday, Speaker Dogara named Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC-Kano) as chairman of the powerful committee on appropriations; Rep. Orker Jev Emmanuel (APC-Benue), chairman, committee on rules and business.

However, the choice of who chairs the committee on Niger delta affairs appears contentious as the position remains vacant, but Rep. Nassiru Ali Ahmed from Kano state was named as deputy chairman of the committee.

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